Fussingø Forest, a mild November Day and a Norwegian Forest Cat.....

The last Days of Autumn. ....

Fussingø, the day before the leaves were all blown away by the storm.

Will we get a record-hot November again in 2015? The temperature yesterday was 16 degrees Celsius and some sleeping butterflies woke up and fluttered around..

Some people still wear short jeans - and on the jogging trip in the evening even summer shorts!
The air is warm both day and night.

The average temperature for a November day is 7 degrees Celsius.

Yellow/Green Beauty

Autumn, especially in poetry, has often been associated with melancholia - the summer has gone and winter is near. Skies are grey and the evenings are dark, but these present warm lovely autumn days of 2015 are not a breeding ground for melancholia, but maybe I should be at the forefront. You'll never know how things look next week!  So here's a little poem about autum from a master.

When a sighing begins
In the violins
Of the autumn-song,
My heart is drowned
In the slow sound
Languorous and long
Pale as with pain,
Breath fails me when
The hours toll deep.
My thoughts recover
The days that are over,
And I weep.

And I go
Where the winds know,
Broken and brief,
To and fro,
As the winds blow
A dead leaf.

 “Chanson d’Automne” by Paul Verlaine, from Poèmes saturniens (1866). Translated by Arthur Symons in Poems (First Collected Edition, 1902)

Some of the forest at Fussingø were laid out as untouched forest since 1992. The section is no longer used for timber or fuel. The trees live as long as they can. The dead trees are important habitats for mammals, birds, insects and other little animals. The forest will gradually turn into a kind of jungle with fallen and dead trees and a variation of trees growing up.

Cyclists in the forest

Lady with dog

old oaks by the road.

The path down to the forest.

The Fussingø district was inhabited since Stone Age. The first safe proof of human settlements is from the bondestenalder which begins 4200 BC. From this period are found many flint axes.  

the buzzard high up in the blue.

A hen in the road, the hens at Fussingø live a dangerous life. The whole flock was up in the traffic road a short minute before I took the photo, but they are very.very fast to get away from the traffic. They disappeared down in the garden below in the flash of a light.  

Fussingø slot in the background.

.

See Link:

http://www.fussingoeslot.dk/ 

Fussingø slot is today used for alternate exhibitions of art and arts and crafts. In other buildings are Nature School and Skov- og Naturstyrelsen. Fussingø is owned by the Danish State.

The German family  Skeel von Plessen owned the estate until the end of WWII, where the estate was confiscated by the Danish State as some kind of war compensation.

Fussingø slot is only open during the year in connection to various arrangements etc. The park is
open to the public all year.

Fussingø skov

Stævningsskoven . The coppice forest on the other side of the brook.

The coppice forest (Stævningsskoven)  is the earliest known form of forestry in Denmark It can be traced back to Stone Age in Denmark and further back in other parts of Europe.

The coppice forest began in connection to the peasants' need for fence, fuel, grazing for the livestock, poles, posts etc. The landlords had the right to use the upper section of the forest, while the peasants had to settle for what they could find in the low forest. The coppice forest was a smart solution for the peasants, since this type of forest developed an upper forest, if it was coppiced regularly - and in this way they could keep on their right to use the forest.

When new materials arrived in the 1800s like stone, bricks, stone dikes, earth banks and fences like wire and fossil fuel, the importance of the coppice forest disappeared and the coppice forests were mainly allowed to stay as they were.

an old fragile bridge

the old boat is still there

Well, here comes the ruler of the water mill!

Dear Cat, I see from the facts below that you are adapted to a very cold climate. Don't you feel it is too hot here? Maybe you should have a little hair cut? Oh no, that would be a shame. You are so beautiful, and you know it. Maybe you have adapted to the mild climate too. I hope you have, but you have really got a big beautiful and hot fur coat! Do you like ice cream? 

Last time I met this cat it was so aristocratic that it was not interested in talking to me. Let's see how the pretty cat behaves today.....

Facts: The Norwegian forest cat is a breed of domestic cat native to Northern Europe. This natural breed is adapted to a very cold climate with top coat of glossy long water-shedding hairs, and a wooly undercoat for insulation. It is a big, strong cat, similar to the American Maine Coon  breed, with long legs, a bushy tail and a sturdy body. The breed is very good at climbing, since they have strong claws. 

Hello, are you social or aristocratic today, dear cat?

What a cuddly cat!

Wauw, you've actually got autumn colours. So beautiful.

Bye, bye....I'll go find my good landlady. She's got some food for me. and maybe some ice cream !

Emeraldgreen ferns

See you next year at Fussingø............

The Mill Pond

Long-tailed tit - the afternoon light was fading!!

Nature's beautiful decay. 

Text and photo November 2015: grethe bachmann :

The Fungi-World in Autumn

In a Forest at Løvenholm manor, Djursland.

                                                                                                                           (Flora and Fauna)

After some rain there were many mushrooms in the September-forest. The forest at Løvenholm manor on Djursland is usually a good place to find a good variation of mushrooms.

The first collection of my mushroom-photos is from Løvenholm, the second from a heath at Vrads Sande and the third from a forest close to Silkeborg. 


                                                                        

The autumn is high season of fungi in the woods, both the edible and the poisonous. There are many guided tours with experts who'll guide people to find the good edible mushrooms and to avoid the dangerous ones.

Many groups are out in the forest with baskets, gathering mushrooms for their dinner and many love to go fungi-hunting in the autum, where numbers of toadstools after a heavy rain suddenly tell people that now has autumn arrived.

The fungi are so deviant from plants and animals that the overall collective term flora and fauna  had to be expanded by a third unit which only includes the fungi.  Until the middle of the 1900s the fungi were considered to be plants, but however the scientists acknowledged that the fungi were so deviating from other organisms that they should have their own group. There are supposedly about 1.5 million fungi worldwide. In Denmark are over 6000 species.

 Many years' research has shown that fungi in fact er more closely related to animals than to plants. The research has also proved that fungi have an important  role in the decomposition of organic substances in the soil.






2) At a heath at Vrads Sande, Mid Jutland

Vrads Sande, in  Mid Jutland.

                                                                                                                                                              

Edible fungi have been known by humans for thousands of years, fx in China. In the old Rome people also knew about both edible and poisonous mushrooms, and they believed they were outgrowths from the moist soil. Not until 1710 the Italian Pier Antonio Micheli discovered that fungi reproduces by fungal spores - and he described several species. But it was the Dutchman Christian Hendrik Persoon (1761-1836) and the Swede Elias Fries (1794- 1878), who are considered the founders of mycology.
 

Fungi are able to create very complicated organic connections  Several fungi create substances, which when eaten can attack the human organs, fx kidneys and liver, this often causes death.The most common cause of fungi-poisoning in Denmark is the substance Alfa- amanitin which among others are found in the Amanita virosa (Danish Hvid Fluesvamp), European Destroying Angel. Immature specimens of A. virosa resemble several edible species commonly consumed by humans, increasing the risc of accidental poisoning.

Amanita phalloides (Danish: Grøn Fluesvamp),  commonly known as the Death Cap, which resembles several edible species , commonly consumed by humans, increasing the risk of accidental poisoning

Other poisonous substances are Orellanin and Gyromityrin, and finally the substance Muscarin, which acts as a neurotoxin on the heart.


 3) In a Forest close to Silkeborg

The forest

Some fungi have a hallucinating effect without being directly poisonous. Psilocybin-fungi grows all  over the world and were known long before our time. Already in 500-1000 BC humans have been drawing mushrooms upon stones in religious connections. In many countries the mushrooms were an important part of religious ceremonies and rituals. The fungi had a divine status in such cases - and in Mexico people believed in a god called Piltzintecuhtli,who was the god of all hallucinogenes, especially of the sacred mushroom.

The use of psilocybin-fungi has been done ever since, although it is illegal in many countries today. It has been illegal in Denmark since 2001 because of the risc of bad trips and poisoning. 


As it is difficult to accurately identify a safe mushroom without proper training and knowledge, it is often advised to assume that a wild mushroom is poisonous and not to consume it.

 













Fairy Rings
 Danish: Heksering:  A fairy ring, also known as fairy circle, elf circle, elf ring or pixie ring, is a naturally occurring ring or arc of mushrooms. Fairy rings are the subject of much folklore and myth worldwide—particularly in Western Europe While they are often seen as hazardous or dangerous places, they can sometimes be linked with good fortune.

One of the largest rings ever found is near Belfort in France. Formed by Infundibulicybe geotropa, it is thought to be about 600 metres (2,000 ft) in diameter and over 700 years old. On the South Downs in southern England, Calocyve gambosa has formed huge fairy rings that also appear to be several hundred years old.

I have not added any names of the mushrooms in my photos. I do not gather mushrooms, I only take photos and  I buy my good edible mushrooms in the supermarket, but I think it is an exciting period in the autumn forest when all the pretty and mysterious mushrooms pop up with their fine colours in the green moss.


photo Djursland and Mid Jutland, September 2014: grethe bachmann

Painkilling Food

Autumn in the Forest.

Now we are once again on our way to autumn and a lovely colour palette - a sunny day in October with the cool fresh air is healing and medicine for the soul. It's getting colder in the night hours and the house feels chilly, we begin to heat up our home - first a little and then a litte more. If we've got some physical weaknesses, they might tease our poor delicate bodies before winter comes. I've heard that we'll get a tough winter this year. They don't know for real, do they?
 
Here are a few natural "remedies", which might help you to ease your pain and strengthen your body, if you've got....


..... sore joints: try ginger and rosehip. Both are known for easing the osteoarthritis and other problems of the joints. There are substances in ginger which imitate aspirin, used in painkilling tablets. Rosehip is antibacterial and is fx used against rheumatoid arthritis.

..... migraine: try oily fish. The Omega-3 fatty acids in the fish help heart and blood vessels, so that the circulation functions in the best possible way. Oily fish also works anti-inflammatory = it diminishes inflammation, and according to research it eases pain in neck and shoulders.

 .....muscular pain:  try cherries. They contain substances which can block the muscular pain in the same way as some medicines. Studies of long distance runners show that they get less pain in the muscles, if they drink cherry juice before running.

.....stomach pain: try bananas (green are best) and cranberries. The bananas contain pectin, which forms a protective film around the stomach mucosa. The cranberry juice has shown that it is able to eradicate a part of the bacteria causing gastric ulcer.

.....headache: try coffee. Caffeine has an adstringent effect on the blood vessels, which have expanded,when our head hurts. But don't drink too much coffee, this might have the opposite effect!

 ..... bloated stomach : try yoghurt with live bacterial culture. The yoghurt keeps a balance in the intestinal bacterias and ease both stomach ache and the bloated feeling.




And now we can all go out enjoying the fresh October air..... 

 

Source September 2013: Ugebladet Søndag, News about your Health, Vivi Ahlström/ Marianne Arnvig, scientist professor Charlotte Erlanson-Albertsson. 


photo Moesgård forest: grethe bachmann

Mid Jutland, Lake District, Dusty Rain in November

A Taste of Denmark

This hedgerow  is from the second  week of November and almost all trees and bushes have lost their leaves now. It is early, compared to the previous years. It's one of those days where the sky is thick and grey, but where the colours are soft and blurred like in one of those English paintings which I like so much. Some British movies have caught that atmosphere in the landscape.



You probably know those  traffic circles. Various towns have created various traffic circles. This town, Ry, has chosen stones for the circle. They don't grow into a wilderness like some bushy circles do. If a town has a conncetion to a famous man, fx like Piet Hein, they place his super ellipse and super egg in traffic circles at the entrance to the town, a huge super ellipse and super egg, looking like they are made in solid silver. I'm not sure which town, maybe it's Skjern in West Jutland. The other little picture is a pretty villa at the top of a green hill in Ry, an expensive residential neighboorhood. 


But I'm not looking for a stay in town, I want to go out into the countryside, although the air is dripping with tiny rain drops. In Danish we call it "støvregn" (dusty rain) - you say drizzling. It must not grow into rain. I don't have a water camera. I know that photographers pack their camera into plastic, but I'm not a professional photographer. I can make a day without taking photos -  or I might take a photo from inside the car if necessary!


A path through a ploughed field. That dark umbra of the newly ploughed field is so warm. Don't worry about winter! December is a warm like umbra with lots of candles in the house and Christmas preparations. A tall bush in silhouette upon the little hill, waving with its twigs and branches. I cannot see what kind of bush, but it is perfect at that place, isn't it. Taking a closer look -  it might be a hawthorn.  


As usual on our way into the Lake district of Mid Jutland we pass the village Vrads with the little white church and the field with the Jutland horse. Usually I have a little chat with this horse, but not today. There are always three horses in this field, and the Jutland horse is the most curious. It has the most lovely friendly eyes under the thick  forelock. It looks as if it has got a haircut.




First destination was a path through a nature reserve, but we had to walk across the road to the lake instead. The soil was so muddy and smooth that we were sliding along the path like on ice skates. The lake was beautiful. The water was like the oh so often described mirror, and the farthest corner looked like a Norwegian mountain lake, dark and black. Everything was silent. Even the cows on the other side of the lake. They were only staring. Sweet cows. The resting place was not for use that day. Too wet. But we bring our folding chairs. Looking across the lake in a coffee break is not the worst thing to do for a cool Jutlander! I don't think you know the verse about the Jutlanders, and it is impossible to translate, but a Jutlander "he's strong and tough, and whether things go up or down you'll never see him being lost!" I'm not sure it fits with me - although I'm a born Jutlander!   

Cammock leaves by the lake

The next place on our little tour was at Klostermølle. On the way we passed the meadow where trees and bushes have been removed to give place for birds. Many geese are grazing here in winter. A tree is left in the middle of the meadow and the buzzard usually sits here, watching for prey, but today the tree has been occupied by a humble crow. We're always looking for the kingfisher by the water stream - there is a big channel and water mill at Klostermølle, built by the Benedictine monks in the early Middle Ages, but I have made some posts about this before. I like this place. We did not see the kingfisher, and if we had then this little bird is extremely quick. I haven't caught a useful photo yet. You'll just see a blue metallic glimpse ahead of you, and then it comes back a little later, always like a little blue lightning. Such a little tease!  And I haven't got the patience to wait for a perfect shot. The watermill at Klostermølle lies by one of Denmark's largest lakes, Mossø, and the shores of this lake
 are among the loveliest places I know. The trees along the lake are so pretty, I hope they will keep healthy so they don't have to fall. Here was once a fine kloster, and I can easily imagine the monks walking around here. The place is so peaceful, and today every sound is like covered in a soft woolen blanket.

The weather gets more and more dusty with rain and this soft-coloured photo looks like a painting.

 



Twilight came, and there was a sudden glow behind the forest until darkness fell completely. The days are short...........














 
photo Mid Jutland November 2011: grethe bachmann

click to enlarge pictures.